What is a Carrier Oil?Updated 3 months ago

What is a Carrier Oil?

These are all the natural cosmetic oils that you can use in your homemade recipes. They are perfect for creating homemade soap, crafting a skin-loving lotion recipe, and making many of the other kinds of cosmetic recipes. So, knowing about these oils is important for creating the types of bath and body products that you need!

Making Soap Supplies

If you are looking for a good recipe for making soap, then it is going to have some carrier oils in it. Anyone making soap from scratch knows that the carrier oils you choose can influence the quality of your bars. So, these ingredients are essential for cold process soap recipes. You can see specifics on how each oil affects the soap on our Soaping Oil Properties. Even melt and pour soap recipes can benefit by adding some carrier oils to the soap base, which is often done to make the bar more conditioning to the skin.

Lotion Making

Also, our bulk carrier oils can be used to create an amazing homemade lotion recipe. These are the oils that we include to nourish and moisturize your skin. In fact, the oils are what do the majority of the skin care in lotions. While you can use butters along with your oils, they can lead to a thicker cream or even a body butter. So, lighter lotions need key carrier oils to perform effectively!

Using Essential Oils

Although essential oils are natural, they aren t safe to put directly on your skin. Plus, adding a carrier oil will help hold on to the aroma longer than on its own. So, it is actually beneficial for your scent to mix an essential oil with a carrier oil before applying. One of the best carrier oils for essential oils would have to be Sweet Almond Oil or Argan Oil.

Kinds of Carrier Oils

There are many different kinds of carrier oils that you can mix together for your recipes. Depending on your skin type or level of dryness, you may want to have lighter or heavier oils. Also, some oils are better for face lotions or for foot care. So, the blend of carrier oils that you want varies based on your product and its purpose.

Apricot Kernel Oil

First, we have Apricot Kernel Oil, an oil that is light and excellent for skin care. While this oil is light enough to not block pores, it is conditioning enough to be a luxurious oil for cp soap. It's great for making lotions that don t leave a greasy feeling and skin into the skin. Also, its perfect in soap because the oil will sink into the skin quickly to fully moisturize the skin. We ve used this wonderful oil in many bath and body recipes, including the Chamomile Light Lotion Recipe and the Strawberries and Champagne CP Soap Recipe.

Argan Oil

Next, we have an oil that is amazing for skin care. Argan Oil is easily absorbed into the skin and won t leave a greasy feeling on your skin. Plus, this cosmetic oil allows your skin to breathe and doesn t block pores. In fact, this ingredient is used in many acne-fighting recipes. We included this oil in a few cosmetic recipes, like the Argan Soap Recipe and the Sour Watermelon Sugar Scrub Cubes Recipe. In our cp soap recipe, this oil increased the lather and nourished the skin beautifully.

Avocado Oil

Also, adding Avocado Oil to your homemade recipes is a perfect way to increase the moisturizing ability of your product. This cosmetic ingredient is a heavy oil that is perfect for providing dry, damaged skin with the nourishment it deserves. Plus, the high level of unsaponifiable fatty acids and high vitamin content make this skin-sensitive oil great for adding some extra conditioning power to your soap bars, which you can see in the Gentle Avocado Cold Process Soap Recipe.

Castor Oil

Another great oil for your homemade cosmetic recipes is Castor Oil. Not only is this oil thick and perfect for nourishing dry, damaged skin, but this oil is a humectant. This means that oil will pull moisture to it, which will further moisturize your skin as it absorbs. Perfect for creating lotions for feet, like the Natural Salve Recipe , which are often one of the most damaged areas of skin. While this oil would provide some conditioning properties and a rich, creamy lather, it can make your soap sticky. So, avoid adding too much of this oil in your cp soap formulations. By limiting the amount of Castor Oil, we were able use the beneficial properties without as many drawbacks, like with our St Pattys Day Cold Process Soap Recipe as well as many other soaps.

Coconut Oil

Coconut Oil is a great oil for skin that sinks in well and is perfect for scrub recipes like the Foaming Hibiscus Scrub Recipe. Also, this sensitive oil is perfect to add to lip balm supplies for making recipes like the Kahlua and Cream Lip Balm Recipe. For soapmaking, this oil provides a hard bar with a bubbly lather that is cleansing. Many find that adding more than 20% of this oil is drying for the skin, so some people may include more conditioning oils to the recipe or even super fat the formula to include more oils.

Grapeseed Oil

Another fantastic oil for bath and body recipes is Grapeseed Oil. This oil is perfect for cosmetic supplies because it is a lightweight moisturizer that is effective without being too greasy for the skin. So, this oil is perfect for creating lotions sensitive enough for the face, like our Natural Facial Night Cream Recipe. Also, this oil is perfect for soap-making, like our Raspberry CP Soap Recipe. This oil is moisturizing, and even anti-acne, for soap but it doesn't leave a greasy, heavy oil feeling on the skin.

Jojoba Oil

While Jojoba Oil is technically a liquid wax, it is still fantastic for skin care products. This cosmetic ingredient is perfect for everything from lotions like our Shea Lotion with Herbal Infusion Recipe to lip care products like our Green Apple Lip Balm Recipe. In your soap recipes, this cosmetic ingredient is just as conditioning as luxury oils. But, this oil has a longer shelf life.

Lanolin Oil

Lanolin Oil is a great cosmetic oil that is wonderful for moisturizing and protecting damaged hair and dry skin. This oil contains very few saponifiables, so it maintains its conditioning properties and provides the bar with a silky feeling. So, we used this wonderful oil in our Strawberries and Champagne CP Soap Recipe. Also, you can use lanoin in a solid form, which still absorbs well and is great for protecting damaged skin. This thicker oil has all of the same beneficial properties and can even be used in soaps, like our Beard Soap Recipe.

Macadamia Nut Oil

Next, we have Macadamia Nut Oil, which is an oil that is light and perfectly absorbs into the skin. This non-greasy oil is perfect for creating lotions, like our Almond Body Cream Recipe. Also, this oil is perfect for adding conditioning properties to your soap and is even great for mature skin types. So, we included this oil in our Lavender Cold Process Soap Recipe.

Meadowfoam Seed Oil

Another great oil that skins into the skin beautifully is Meadowfoam Seed Oil. Not only does this oil work to repair damaged skin, but it has a long shelf life due to its high level of antioxidants. So, it worked wonderfully in our Honey Vanilla Lip Balm Recipe. Also, this cosmetic oil can be used to superfat soap, reduce rancidity, and increase the fragrance's lifespan. So, this oil was a great addition to our Raspberry CP Soap Recipe.

Olive Oil

Olive Oil is often a top choice for soapers, because it is very conditioning, helps harden the bar, and creates a mild bar of soap. While some soapmakers may use only olive oil in Castille soap or mostly olive oil in Marseille soap, it makes the bar a bit slimy and barely has a lather. So, many soapers will combine this oil with others to create a great soap recipe, like in our Creamy Cocoa Craziness Cold Process Soap Recipe..

Palm Oil

Next, we have another great oil for creating soaps, which is Palm Oil. This soap making ingredient creates a hard, white bar that has a rich, creamy lather. We have used this wonderfully cleansing oil in many recipes, like our Calendula Swirl Soap Recipe and our Beer Cold Process Soap Recipe.

Pumpkin Seed Oil

Pumpkin Seed Oil is rich in vitamins and minerals, which provide great properties for the skin. This oil sinks into the skin without leaving oily residue to repair damaged skin. So, it was a perfect addition to our Pumpkin Sugar Scrub Recipe.

Rice Bran Oil

Rice Bran Oil has benefits similar to Olive Oil, so it is conditioning and great for soaps! So, we included this lovely soaping oil in our Wine Cold Process Soap Recipe as well as other great cp soap recipes. Plus, this rich, conditioning bar is perfect for both mature and sensitive skin types.

Safflower Oil

Also, we have a nourishing and skin-loving oil that is perfect for homemade products. Safflower Oil is moisturizing and nourishing for the skin, so we included it in many soap recipes and our own Hair Conditioner For Redheads Recipe.

Sesame Seed Oil

Another great cosmetic oil is Sesame Seed Oil, which is a light cosmetic ingredient full of nutrients for the skin. We include this lovely oil in recipes like our Giraffe Bubble Bars Recipe or our Beard Balm Recipe. Also, this oil can be used in cp soap to help slow trace, nourish the skin, and provide a silky lather.

Sunflower Oil

Also, Sunflower Oil works well with palm oil and olive oils to provide a rich creamy lather. Plus, this oil is very moisturizing and will provide a silky feel to the soaps. So, this is perfect for adding to our soap recipes and bath products, like our Natural Beet Root Lip Gloss Recipe.

Sweet Almond Oil

Lastly, we have a light oil that will perfectly absorb into the skin Sweet Almond Oil. So, it was a great choice for bath and body recipes like Tranquility Bath Melts Recipe or Fruity Rings Emulsified Sugar Scrub Recipe. Plus, this oil is perfect for adding some conditioning properties to your soaps.

My Oil Solidified

You may find that your cosmetic oil has solidified, this is because the melt point is slightly above room temperature. Luckily, this is easy to fix. All you have to do is set your bottle in a bowl of warm water until the oil melts again.

Reach Out to Us

We hope that you were able to find some carrier oils that you enjoy for your bath and body products. Not only are there many to choose from, but there are many combinations that you can try for your recipes. Just start with your favorites and build from there! If you have anymore questions about these oils and how they will work in your recipes, then reach out to us. An easy way to get in contact with us is to reach out on social media. We are on Facebook and Instagram.